Are we all criminals?

I attended a debate on crime the other night and I was struck by one of the contributions from the floor. It was a clinical psychologist who asked why so many people who complain about crime engage in criminal activity themselves.

I thought about this and realised that so many of us are guilty of crimes. Yes, the crimes might be small, but they are still crimes.

For instance, I have been guilty of speaking on my cellphone while driving. Whenever I get a call while driving, I try to pull off, but sometimes I don’t. I have a hands-free kit, but sometimes it is just a pain to use it.

Every morning when I go to the gym, I noticed not one but at least four cars parking on yellow lines where parking is supposed to be prohibited.

Yes, it is early morning but surely the laws governing parking do not start at a certain hour and stop at another? Surely there are reasons why there are yellow lines, for instance to facilitate a better flow of traffic?

How often haven’t I seen people throwing cigarette butts from their cars, often in dry areas? And how often too haven’t I seen people stomping out cigarette butts in the road?

In the case of cigarette butts, it is not only illegal to dispose of them in this way. It is also indecent.

How often haven’t I seen people fiddling their taxes while complaining about government corruption? Surely fiddling your taxes is also stealing from the taxpayer?

It reminds me of the joke of the father who is called to his son’s school because his son had stolen somebody’s pen and books. The father scolds his son and asks him: “Why did you steal this stuff? Don’t you know that daddy can bring you this stuff from work?”

I can probably go on and on and mention many more examples of how supposedly law-abiding citizens break the law every day.

Yet these same people complain about criminals who commit bigger crimes.

If one wants to complain about crime, one should make sure that one’s own house is clean. It does not help to say that my crime is much smaller than others’ and therefore one cannot place them in the same categories.

It is a mindset change that we will all have to undergo.

When our children see us committing small crimes, they might believe it is OK to commit bigger crimes.

There is an African proverb about eating big animals little bit by little bit. Our approach to crime should be the same. We should deal with the small crimes and then hopefully we will be able to deal with the bigger crimes much easier.

If you disagree and think it is OK to commit small crimes, then maybe we are getting what we deserve, because ultimately, we are then a nation of criminals.